Thursday, March 19, 2009

Fritzl's Journey From Cellar to Cell

If it were fiction, it would be lurid pulp, a terrifying tale of imprisonment, rape, murder, and betrayal.

Like all great horror, it is terrible and fascinating.

It occurred in a large cellar beneath a house in a quiet Austrian street.

For twenty four years, the victim was imprisoned and raped repeatedly.

She gave birth to six children. All were denied daylight and freedom. One died.

Part of her nightmare ended today.

Josef Fritzl, 73, pleaded guilty to rape and murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He could be paroled in fifteen years.

In a shock revelation, his daughter, Elizabeth, the mother of his six children, and his primary victim, was in court on Tuesday. She said that she "wanted to be sure that her father was punished for the death of her child".

Fritzl will spend his days in a prison with a substantial psychiatric facility. He will be immediately assessed by a panel of psychiatrists who will assess his psychiatric needs (Good luck, fellas!)

Interestingly, he will be billed directly for all court costs and the costs of therapy for his victims (his children).

In the amazing hour long Austrian press conference on CNN International this morning that immediately followed Fritzl's sentencing, several reporters asked if Fritzl will be permitted to write his "memoirs" and sell them.

The judge questioned, not unfairly, whether Fritzl would actually be interested in writing such memoirs.

It is no wonder that horror movies focus on stories about beasts in cellars and subterranean prisons.

This is where the monsters of the real world lurk. This is where they do their business. This is where they hide their crimes. These dank, lightless places are where perversion propagates.

A strange parallel to this case is that Fritzl's wife, who claims not have known about Fritzl's second family beneath the floor, is named Rosemary.

Rosemary was the name of the partner in crime of another monster who buried his crimes (and kids) in a self-constructed cellar. His name was Fred West.If Mrs. Rosemary Fritzl was truly totally oblivious (as she claims she was) to the fact that her husband was raising another family beneath the floorboards of her kitchen floor -- for twenty-four years! -- she is undoubtedly one of the stupidest people who ever walked the Earth, and we should shed tears for her pea-sized brain.

If, however, she really did know what was going on (and my money's on that), she's smart, and she'd better get smarter.

A troubling, fascinating detail is that Fritzl will be sharing a cell with another inmate.

What poor, unlucky fuck is going to wake up tomorrow morning and be told that his new cellmate is the fun-loving Josef Fritzl?

Nice try Mrs Frankl!! Women are simply too inquisitive to miss things like secret chambers and hidey holes. I couldn't hide porn from my girlfriend, let alone play "Salo" and "Caligula" with the kids in the fucking basement, for heaven's sake!!

She didn't hear the screams??

Only someone as oblivious as Mrs Fritzl claims to be would buy her story about not realizing; take the babies cries as well! I can hear the baby from the house two doors down in the morning. I find it hard to believe...

Oh bollocks! I find it all pretty hard to believe, come down to it.

Therapy for the victims? Man, Elizabeth would need the Johnny Cochrane of therapists; there are not enough head shrinkers on the books, nor enough copies of 'Power of Positive Thinking' to get this poor girls head right...

And Mr. Fritzl? When the book and the film finally get made, he and his cell mate might do the DVD commentary...

Shon -- the logistics of the case are mind-boggling. No health care for newborns? Probably after one birth, Elizabeth was able to wing the other five. But, Jesus!

mandingo -- great, great points!Women are extremely inquisitive beings -- "nosey", to use the colloquial... especially when it comes to what their partners up are to.

It is inconceivable that Mrs. F didn't know what was going on. As you say, baby crying carries. And what about the stench down there? Baby vomit. Dirty nappies/diapers. Block-up toilet. That happens.

In 24 years, every kind of shit imaginable happens.

I suspect Law Enforcement gave Mrs F a free pass in the lead up to Mr F's trial. It made things a lot less complicated to be charging Mr F only. It also meant that they didn't waste time corroborating accounts of what went on.

The other possibility is that Mr F took the wrap because he'd spent the last 24 years intimidating Mrs F with the reality of his nature. Perhaps she unofficially enabled him because she feared losing him as the breadwinner. It's a common scenario. The guy's clearly a master manipulator, so I'd say he stripped Mrs F of her power and self esteem a long time ago.

Maybe I need to be more empathetic--all I could think when this story broke is what a great horror film it would make--or 5 films, if as many filmmakers jump on this as did with the Armin Miewes story.

Thanks for adding some humorous touches to this. You make Fritzl seem like an interesting guy to have dinner with.